Mutation Situation
by The Prime Writer
Summary: After being taken against their will, mutated, and cryogenically frozen for over a thousand years, the cast of Total Drama is thrown into a savage world of mutant freaks and abominations and must work together to survive. New people will be with them, romances will form, trouble will arise, action and humor will be witnessed, and as usual, Drama will ensue.
1. Prologue

I should probably start from the beginning. My name is Jason Vontel, your typical nineteen year old guy from the lower class. I have black hair, blue eyes, and live in a crappy house with my mom and three younger brothers. In order, my brothers are Johnny and Donny, the twins, and Michael, a genius of a 9-year-old.

Our mom had to work really hard to pay the bills, since our bastard of a father walked out on us a few years back. Most of the time, Mom would get sick or hurt herself from working so hard, but she kept going for our sakes.

When my brothers and I were old enough, we got small part-time jobs to help out. Michael would mow lawns, Johnny and Donny got paper routes that were closest to our home, and I worked at a local grocery store. Although we were never able to get enough money to get us out of the dump we called home, we had each other and that's all that mattered.

Whenever the whole family was together, we would watch our favorite TV series, Total Drama; in fact, the only DVDs we have in our house are of the four seasons of Total Drama. Every time a new episode aired, we would gather on our springy, roach-infested couch and watch it in silence. Don't get me wrong, I would not want myself or my brothers on that insane show, but I really admire how all the cast members were able to survive whatever Chris threw at them.

One day, it happened: our Mom got really sick and was rushed to the hospital. The Doctor said that she'd be ok, but she'd have to take it easy for a short time, time we didn't have because our landlord wouldn't get off our backs. We were already behind on some of our bills, and even if we worked our butt's off the next day, or the next week, it wouldn't be enough.

All hope seemed lost until a man in a black suit with dark sunglasses, looking almost like a government agent, showed up at our door and made me an offer that would solve everything.

_"If you agree to take part in a very 'special' government program I can make sure your family won't have to suffer anymore hardship."_ He then pulled out the contract and pointed to the section that stated that my family would be given a great deal of money for my services. To sweeten the deal even more, he pulled out a few stacks of twenties to hold my family until the big bucks arrived.

That was all I needed to know before I swiped the pen from his hand and signed on the dotted line. I'd sell my soul to the devil if it came to my family's well-being.

The man then told me to say my goodbyes to my brothers before we left. I knew my brothers weren't stupid when it came to money, but it never hurt to give them refresher courses on spending money wisely. I also told them to say good-bye to Mom because I didn't want to waste time, and if I told her about all this, she wouldn't be happy and I didn't want that on my conscience.

I got in to the back seat of the man's car and tried to just enjoy the ride. When we came to a red light the man quickly turned and sprayed me with something; everything got fuzzy and then I blacked out.

When I started to come out of it, I heard screams of panic and anger; after my vision cleared up I found myself in a large tube like chamber. But the most shocking was that outside the chamber were other chambers all in a circle and inside of them was the cast of the Total Drama series.

The one thing going through my mind was _'What have I gotten myself into?'_


	2. The Experiment

**Just a little note, this fanfic is a collaberation of myself and THE NIGHT'S RAGE. He originally started this fanfic before he offered someone the chance to take it from him, and I took him up on that offer. He sends the ideas, I type them down and publish them; be sure to give him some credit as well as me.**

**Sorry if the prologue was a bit too brief for you; That was the chapter that THE NIGHT'S RAGE created, he let me copy and paste it onto one of my files and let me improve and re-publish it. Just though you should know. Also, just in case you were curious, it was all in Jason's point of view because he'll be a major character in the story as a whole, at least after the mutations. There are five major OCs in this story (Original Characters for those who don't know), two guys and three girls; two of the girls are my OCs, while Jason, the other guy, and the third girl are from THE NIGHT'S RAGE.**

**Now for the disclaimer; the Total Drama series is the joint property of Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon, the same creaters of 6teen and Stoked. Also, the fanfic is rated T for some minor swearing, occasional suggestive material (NOTHING MAJOR!), descriptions of blood and major injuries, and all reasons for why Total Drama is/was rated TV-PG and TV-PG-D.**

**Now, on with the show, or fanfic in this case.**

* * *

In the government facility where the Total Drama cast and a small number of new teenagers are being kept, the teens in question are just waking up, all of them inside metal pods with the front part made of glass. Their eyes are bleary and some of them are trying to get back to sleep, but that notion was shot to hell when Courtney fully woke up. "Guys…guys…GUYS, WAKE UP ALREADY!"

Most of said contestants woke up instantly with shouts of surprise, and in Owen's case, a very loud fart, causing some teens to let out sounds of disgust. Owen spoke first when he stopped farting. "Where are we?"

Cody answered that question in a fearful voice. "I think we've been kidnapped by aliens!"

Geoff spoke up next. "You mean we're going to get our butts probed?"

Lindsay was the next to speak. "I don't want my bottom probed!"

DJ, ever the momma's-boy, uttered a fearful and high-pitched "Mommy!"

Harold interrupted the fearful shouting in a calm voice. "Actually, the metal and technology I've seen so far indicates we've been kidnapped by humans instead of abducted by extraterrestrials. My guess is that we've been taken by either a secret organization or the government of some nation, probably the latter of the two."

Duncan spoke up next in a deadpan voice. "My money's on one of us causing this."

It was then that one of the new teenagers spoke up. "Uh, hello, is anybody going to notice us?"

Just then, the Total Drama characters noticed several new teenagers, two boys and three girls, that they had never seen before.

One of the boys, the one who had spoken, was about as tall as Duncan and had the same body shape, but he had longer legs like Scott, with a light skin tone, short black hair and deep-blue eyes, wearing an orange T-shirt, olive-green cargo-pants, blue converse shoes, and a small ceramic talisman with the image of a wolf painted on it in grey paint around his neck.

The other guy, who seemed much calmer then most of the other teens, was well-built like DJ, with light-brown skin, spiked-back black hair, and brown eyes, wearing dark-blue cargo-pants, a white T-shirt with a large dark-blue stripe going across it, and a red-orange jacket over that shirt

Of the three girls, the one that appeared the calmest was a skate-rat girl with slender curves, red hair tied in a ponytail, a light tan, and light-blue eyes, wearing a pair of faded jeans, a pair of well-worn sneakers, and a simple white T-shirt.

The young woman next to her had a petite build, a nervous look on her face, dark-brown skin-tone, messy black hair all over her head, and nervous brown eyes, wearing a pair of stained jean-shorts, a messy magenta crop-top, and a pair of raddy converse shoes.

The third girl, who was between the two new boys, actually looked kind of excited to be stuck in a pod. Said girl has a slim body, shoulder length black hair tied into a small ponytail pair of pigtails with pink highlights on the tips of the pigtails and ponytail, amber-colored eyes, East Asian facial features, and pale skin, wearing a cobalt-blue T-shirt shirt with a green anime robot on the front, a hot-pink long-sleeve under that, a pair of cobalt short-shorts, and a pair of long stockings with stripes alternating between cobalt-blue and hot-pink leading down to a pair of what looked like combat boots.

Zoey spoke up and asked the new teens "Can you tell us your names please?"

The boy who had spoken up replied with "Name's Jason Vontel."

The skate-rat girl was the next to speak. "Hey there people, my name's Lora, and it's so nice to meet you all."

The timid-looking girl was next to speak up, in a quiet voice. "Uh, my name's…June."

The Asian girl spoke up in an excited voice. "Hi there, my name is Miko Fujimoto, and it is totally awesome to be with the cast of Total Drama. I have a ton of questions to ask everyone. Will there be a new season? Are any of you in secret relationships? Are any of you gay or lesbian? What are your biggest secrets? Are any of you going to have kids or are planning to have kids within the next decade?"

Brick spoke up in an uncomfortable voice. "Would you please stop asking us those disturbing and highly personal questions?"

Cameron added to that with "Yes, please stop. We haven't heard the other guy's name yet."

Instead of saying his name, the other guy started making a bunch of hand signals. Bridgette recognized those signals and spoke up.

"He's using Sign Language. I can translate." The others looked at her with slight confusion.

"I learned Sign while volunteering at a special home for deaf and mute people." Everyone nodded in understanding.

Bridgette looked to the guy using Sign. "He says his name is Benjamin Martinez, and he uses Sign Language because he lost the use of his voice after a car accident when he was 10.

Eva spoke up in a voice of barely-contained rage. "OK, the new guys and girls have been introduced, now I have to ask this." Eva's next words were ones of sheer, unbridled anger.

"HOW DID WE END UP IN THESE PODS?"

Leshawna was quick to look in Courtney's direction with a strong glare. "I think it had something to do with our resident Spoiled Bratty Princess."

Courtney instantly looked indignant and responded to Leshawna's glare with one of her own. "Just because I know how to make things go my way does not mean I'm responsible."

Zoey's boyfriend Mike spoke up. "I would like to say that I'm fairly certain that Courtney had nothing to do with this, but it's actually a legal repercussion of Alejandro's amoral actions during season 3."

Alejandro, now in a high-tech robotic suit that allowed for greater movement then his old suit, looked towards Mike. "Hey, my familia and I went through plenty of legal issues after what happened in Hawaii, so I had nothing to do with this."

Al then sent a glare towards Heather. "I suspect the senorita who cheated me out of a million dollars had a hand in this."

Heather's eyes widened slightly before she narrowed them and looked towards Jason and the other newbies. "What about those guys, they must have had something to do with it."

Jason spoke up for all of them. "Hey, I just signed a paper saying that my family would get enough money for a better life if I agreed to what the contract said. I did not expect to be placed inside some sort of weird tube."

Lora spoke up as well. "This guy in a suit came up to me at my house and like, promised me a sweet sponsorship if I signed this contract he had with him. When we stopped for gas, he turned around and sprayed something on my face that made me like, totally black out. When I woke up, I was in here."

June spoke next in a quiet and rather timid voice. "I, uh…my mom died when I was little, and my daddy would hit me and yell at me sometimes, so I…I signed a deal saying that I would go to a…to a nice foster family. The man who gave me the deal…he, well…he gave me a sandwich to eat on the way. I think…I think there was something in the sandwich that, well…made me fall asleep, and I woke up here."

Scott interrupted in a deadpan voice. "Speaking of falling asleep, would you stop faltering and interrupting yourself, and speak up. I swear I normally would've fallen asleep by now."

Dawn looked at Scott with a disdainful glare. "That girl has been physically and verbally abused for who-knows-how-long, and you're already trying to order her around? I am ashamed to have ever been in your presence."

Those arguing were distracted by the sound of sad crying, and they looked to see June crying her eyes out. "What's going to happen to us? How did we get in these pods? Why are we in these pods? I'm scared, really scared. We're never going to get out of here!"

Jason instantly spoke to her in a calm, soft voice. "Hey June, don't worry. I don't think any of us know where we are or why we're here, but I promise you that everything will be okay. All we need is to believe."

Jason's speech brought smiles to most of the faces in the room, including Courtney. Leshawna spoke up when Jason had finished. "That's right sugar, we're all going to be just fine."

Heather's scoff cut the air and everyone turned to her. "Like hell we'll be okay. This is just another excuse for someone here to file a lawsuit."

Leshawna instantly rounded on her main enemy. "Okay I have just had enough of you. Why would someone go to all this trouble just to file a lawsuit?"

Scott spoke up at that moment. "I say we listen to her, unless you can't stand having your big mouth cut off."

Several teens gasped and looked at Leshawna to see an angry look on her face. "Oh I know you did not say that straight to my face!"

This resulted in more arguing from those angry and confused, and some crying from June, Katie, Sadie, and a couple others.

While all that was going on, someone in and orange prison jumpsuit walked into the room with a couple security guards behind him. That person had slightly ruffled black hair, noticeable 5-o-clock shadow on his face, and a smug, overconfident grin that SCREAMED arrogance. Said person put a pair of earplugs in his ears, as did the guards, before the person put a horn belonging to an 18-wheeler truck up to a megaphone and pressed down on the button. The loud noise that resulted caused the teens to scream in panic, and causing Owen to let loose another fart. When they looked and saw who made the noise, they all made noises of dismay.

Gwen spoke up with a sour look on her face shared by almost everyone in the room (except for the guards and the new teens). "Oh not you again?!"

The person just laughed a little and spoke to all the teens. "Yes everyone, it is me, the wonderful and much-loved host of all four seasons of Total Drama, Chris McLean."

Everyone groaned before Leshawna spoke up in a bitter voice. "Aw hell no, we are not doing another season of Total Drama whatever."

Duncan also spoke up. "I agree with her, you can take this show and shove it up your ass."

Harold was similarly dismayed. "Gosh, haven't we suffered enough."

Ann Maria was quick to follow. "Go find some other new characters to torment."

Izzy also added to the shouting with a loud "IZZY WILL ESCAPE AND TEAR YOU APART."

Chris raised his hands slightly and spoke to them in a condescending voice. "Calm down everyone, this has nothing to do with another season of Total Drama."

Everyone breathed out sighs of relief before Chris's smile turned into a cruel smirk. "It involves something even worse."

Everyone's sighs of relief turned into groans of dismay, and Owen started crying a bit while Lindsay let out a despondent "Nooooooooooo". It was only after the groans had ceased that Duncan noticed Chris's atire.

"Wait a minute, is Chris wearing a prison uniform?" Chris sighed sadly as his face fell into unhappiness.

"Sadly, yes, I am wearing a prison jumpsuit. As it turns out, using Wawanakwa Island as a toxic waste dump is not a good way to get in good books with the authorities. Because I created a massive enviromental hazard, I got in HUGE trouble with the Feds, which led to me getting a 30-year prison sentence, the next two seasons I had planned out being canceled, and all my money and belongings either having been taken by the government or given to charity."

Everyone was silent for a second before they all burst into shouts and screams of pure joy. Chris Mclean was going to jail! After the joyful shouting had died down, Alejandro pointed out something important.

"Wait a minute people. If your going to prison, then why are you here? And why are we in these wierd pods?" Chris's grin returned full force.

"I was hoping someone would ask that." Chris laughed a little bit while the teens began groaning again.

"In case some of you don't know, which I'm guessing is everyone here but Al, Courtney, and Noah, there have been a bunch of arguments in the U.N as of late, and the possibility of a Third World War is becoming more and more real by the day. Canada is preparing for that using biological weaponry. The problem is, they aren't finding a lot of volunteers in the Army, Navy, Mounties, or Air Force, so I decided to be a pal and get you in as part of the experiments in exchange for halving my prison time. They're letting me tell you guys because the military's rational that you'll take the news better from a familiar face."

Noah spoke up first. "Yeah, about being chosen for the experiments: how come the Military chose us?" Chris smiled at him condescendingly.

"Glad you asked Noah. See, after the end of Total Drama: Revenge of the Island, the government took away Dakota and Zeke to study the effects all the toxic waste had on them, or the lack of effects in Zeke's case. Eventually, they got enough of just studying Dakota and decided to dissect her. They also tried to see if a refined version of the toxic waste from the island on Ezekial to see if he mutated, but it wound up killing him as well. Learning from their mistakes, Canada's top scientists created a mutagenic gas enhanced with nanotechnology, nano-gas if you will. The gas itself mutates you, albiet painfully, and the nanotechnology stabilizes the mutations and prevents the gas from killing you. Sam and Staci were taken to test the mutation affects on them, but it didn't work out so well because they panicked, and the hightened stress and adrenaline levels that resulted basically canceled out what the nanotechnology was supposed to do. Further studies showed that, in order for the gas to work properly, the person undergoing the mutation process has to remain completely calm and relaxed, preferably knocked out like a dead lightbulb without actually being dead."

He then gestured to a large tank above the pods, where a green gas was slowly swirling around, and even seemed to glow a little. "The tank you see above you is filled to the brim with the mutagenic gas, which in turn is chock full of nanites. Once the agents are ready, they will pump a mild anesthetic into your individual pods to put you in a deep sleep, after which the nano-gas is umped in from the massive tank. The nano-gas will then alter your genetic structure so that you will all gain enhanced speed, strength, stamina, senses, agility, reflexes, and heightened healing abilites and pain thresholds, basically turning you into living weapons. While that is going on, the nano-gas will completely stop all bodily functions: aging, thirst, hunger, urination, defecation, etcetera. When you wake up, it will be as though you had a deep, restful, dreamless sleep."

Chris then turned to the five new teens. "As for you five, the government had enough gas for the experiment that they needed some extra volunteers. I was rather impressed with your audition tapes for the 1st and 4th seasons of Total Drama, but I just wasn't able to fit you into the series roster's. I recommended you five to the military, and they agreed."

Everyone just stared at Chris, totally horrified and utterly flabbergasted, at what he had just said. They had been taken against their will by the government to mutated into living weapons just because Chris Mclean had recommended them. A few of the teens had no association to him whatsoever, and they were still taken. Courtney was the first to regain her vocie, and spoke something that just might save them from becoming mutants.

"Chris, I would like to point out that we were taken against our will, and people are bound to notice this. Once they do, there will be inquries as to our whereabouts, and when they find out what you and the government did to us, there will be massive legal reprucussions."

Everyone started shouting their agreements, except for the shy June, but Chris's smile never faded. If anything, it actually got a little bigger.

"Ah, ah, ah, I must remind you of something. You all recall what I said whenever I said something that some of you didn't like."

Gwen's eyes widened as she spoke. "Please let it not be what I'm thinking?"

Chris just smiled that evil smile of his and responded with "Yes Gwen, it is."

He quickly pulled out a contract and held it for all to see. "The fine print. Learn it, read it, live it, love it."

Everyone groaned and shouted in anger and frustration again while Chris just started laughing.

"Okay seriously, I can understand the new guys and gals falling for the fine print, and maybe Al, Sierra, and the TDROTI cast. But the rest of you? Seriously? You'd think you would've learned to read the contracts by now."

Jo just growled out "I utterly HATE the fine print." That statement was echoed by several other teens. Chris spoke to them all again, this time with an air of finality.

"Just in case we meet in the future, which I personally find highly doubtful, let me just say that..." Chris's statement was interrupted by Miko, who had a large smirk on her face.

"You're and arrogant, selfish, egotisitcal, air-headed ignoramus?"

Chris's face fell into a surprised frown as the other teens started snickering. When they were done, Chris cleared his throat and began again. "As I was saying before I was interrupted..."

Again, Chris was interrupted by Miko. "You're a self-absorbed braggart and a major son-of-a-bitch?"

All the teens started laughing, while Chris's frown returned, only much more annoyed then before. He cleared his throat and began again. "Now, before I'm interrupted again, I..."

Miko interrupted yet again, smirking. "Am the king of all bastards?"

Chris's face fell into an angry frown while all the other teens began laughing, loud and hard. Even June and the guards were snickering a little bit. The angered Chris turned on the smirking Miko.

"Would you stop interrupting me?!" Miko just smiled and responded in a cheerful tone.

"Hey, if we're going to be turned into mutants to be used as weapons, I might as well get in a few more jibes before I go. Wouldn't you do that?."

Chris looked like he was about to yell again, but instead he put his right hand to his chin and looked thoughtful for a second before he conceeded with a shrug. "Fair enough."

Chris then turned back to the other teens, who had stopped laughing. "Now then, as I've tried saying four times now, I must say that I enjoyed all the fame, ratings, and cash that your collective performances on the show have brought me over the past three years, and although I would never lay my life down for any of you, I will say that I have a tiny amount of respect for all of you."

Everyone just stared at him for a second before he laughed a little bit. "Like I said though, a tiny amount. Anyway, the anesthetic will soon be pumped into your respective pods so that you'll all be nice and knocked-out for the mutation process. I'd say later, but I dobt I'll ever see you guys again, so good-bye, farewell, and good luck as living weapons."

A scoff from Heather drew his attention. "Puh-lease. Like you'd actually be cruel enough to volunteer us for being mutated or weaponized or whatever. This is all just an elaborate punk for you to scare the crap out of everyone before you introduce another season."

Chris just chuckled cruelly smiled at everyone just as evily. "Whatever helps you sleep at night. Later future-freaks."

Just as he and the guards left the building, the teens all heard a hissing coming from some vents in the tops of their pods. Almost instantly, all the teens began feeling incredibly sleepy. Owen, Izzy, and Sierra were out-cold almost instantly, while the others were not far behind.

The last thought any of them had before they drifted off into sleep was _'I really hate that man.'_

* * *

**Alright everyone, here's the first real chapter of Mutation Situation. Tell me what you think. To much of anything, too little of anything? Be completely honesy...unless of course said honesty would mean flaming; in that case, please keep those thoughts to yourself and stay away from this fanfic. I know some characters didn't get a chance to speak, but all of the main characters will get a chance to speak eventually.**

**Next chapter deals with how the teens winds up a thousand years in the future, so expect it to be kinda short and not a lot of dialogue to be present. Next chapter will also have Chef Hatchet's appearence, as well as the final appearence of Chris Mclean. Chef will be in some legal trouble, but not nearly as much as Chris is; more details next chapter.**

**Just a reminder, the teens will not have aged at all because the gas prevents them from aging while they're in stasis. Also, they will not feel the need to eat, sleep, or go number 1 or number 2 just yet because the gas prevents that from happening as well****.**

**Until the next chapter is uploaded, this is the Prime Writer reminding you to stay tuned for Mutation Situation...and that THE NIGHT'S RAGE deserves just as much credit as I do.**


	3. The End and a Beginning

**Greetings everyone, the Prime Writer and THE NIGHTS' RAGE have returned with the third chapter of Mutation Situation. Like I said at the end of the last chapter, this will be a bit of a filler chapter explaining how the nuclear war started, what happens to the Earth and it's life as a result, and how the base the teens are in managed to remain mostly preserved. Also, Chef Hatchet's only appearance in this fanfic will be during the first half of this chapter.**

**Just a little recap for those who might not remember, last chapter showed the various teens stuck in some strange pods after they were tricked into signing contracts that let the government take them for an experiment. Chris then came in and explained what was going to happen to them, why they were chosen for the experiment, and why there were five new teens with them; needless to say, none of them were very happy. Heather spoke up and said that the whole thing was likely some sort of elaborate prank, put that was quickly proven wrong when the teens were put to sleep; and I mean they were literally put to sleep, not like an animal being put down by a vet or anything.**

**Now for the disclaimer; the Total Drama series is the joint property of Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon, the same creaters of 6teen and Stoked. Also, the fanfic is rated T for some minor-to-moderate swearing, descriptions of blood and major injuries, and all reasons for why the Total Drama seasons are/were rated TV-PG and TV-PG-D.**

**Now with all this out of the way, let's continue the story.**

* * *

In the control room of the base, some of Canada's top computer-experts are monitering the vital readings of the teens and the stability of the nano-gas. One person there, a tall African-Canadian with a scowl on his face and wearing a chef's hat and apron, was just standing there waiting for Chris to finish telling the teens about the procedure they're about to undertake, albeit against their wills. When Chris finally did leave the room, that person rounded on him with an angry face.

"Yo Chris! Why do I have to be here with you!? I know for a fact that I'm not in nearly as much legal trouble as you are."

Chris just smiled at the person, who is really Chef Hatchet, who acted as the cook, torture master, janitor, security guard, technician, and occasionally as Chris's co-host during all four seasons of Total Drama. When Chris got in major legal trouble, Chef was acquitted of most of Chris' charges and received a much lighter sentence due to his cooperation with the authorities and his lesser involvement with the environmental disaster that is now Wawanakwa Island. This also meant that Chef is not required to be at the base.

"Chef old buddy, no need to get your apron in a bunch. I just thought you'd want to see mess with they're heads one last time, or for the only time in the case of the newbies. Plus, I wanted to thank you for helping them torture me for all four seasons; you came up with some really good challenges."

Chef's scowl lessened when he found why Chris brought him here, but he still muttered "Then how come I hardly ever got any pay?" Chris just ignored that part and turned to the head scientist.

"Hey, out of curiosity, how are the kids doing and how long will they be in there?" The scientist turned to Chris and spoke in a bored, rather monotonous tone.

"The exact length of time depends on how long it takes for the mutations to take place and how major the mutations are. The full process could take anywhere from a few hours to a couple weeks. If something happens to the pods while the teens are still in them, then they'll remain in stasis until they run out of power, no matter how long that may take. Based on all the excess power this base could generate, plus what could be added from the scratch-proof solar panels on the roof, there could be enough power for this base to last a century unattended, and it could even be modified to last as long as a thousand years."

Chris began laughing at that part, stopping when he saw the serious look on the scientist's face.

"Dude, your serious? You could really make this base last a thousand years into the future?" The scientist nodded and responded with a simple "Theoretically."

Chris looked to Chef and said "Okay, that is pretty cool." Just then, several of the computers started beeping loudly and flashing red lights. A large number of personal started looking worried and scrambled to find out what was happening. Chris and Chef looked worried as well, Chris speaking first.

"What's going on? Why are all the emergency lights flashing?" One of the scientists checked the base's long-range radar, and what he saw made his face go completely pale.

"Dear lord. The North Koreans. They launched a nuclear bomb and it's headed straight for Washington D.C.! And a pair of nukes from China are heading straight towards Toronto and Ottawa! All three bombs will hit their targets and detonate within 6 hours!"

Everyone present in the room, including the normally unflappable Chef Hatchet, adopted looks of horror and went completely pale, some of them gasping in surprise. The scientist who had spoken continued, but what he said next wasn't good.

"That's not all. Dozens of nuclear and thermonuclear weapons are being launched worldwide. China's launched at least 40 at us, the U.S., and several Western European nations. Russia's launched several dozen at several nations across the world. Israel just launched several at Iran, which has apparently launched a couple of its own. The U.S. has just launched three dozen at China and North Korea in retaliation for the bombs they launched. We're looking at the beginning of a fully-fledged WWIII that's gone crazy with nuclear weapons!"

Everyone was completely silent and pale, including Chef and Chris, and a couple scientists even fainted out of fear and surprise. Chris was the first to actually say something.

"I have a question: are we safe in here, like at all?" The scientist looked relieved to finally present a bit of good news.

"Thankfully, yes. The building we're in was specially designed to survive a 250 megaton blast at point-blank range, and there are enough supplies here for all of us to last a full year without having to step outside, maybe even a good 18 months if we ration them out enough."

Everyone present breathed a sigh of relief; at least they have a chance of long-term survival. The head scientist, who by far had been the calmest person in the room so far, looked to Chef Hatchet and spoke in a somewhat curious tone.

"Any chance of you having something that could wake those two up?" He gestured to the fainted scientists as he said that. Chef Hatchet started rummaging through his pockets.

"As a matter of fact, I think I have something that could help." With that, he pulled out a small Ziploc bag and opened it in front of the faces of the fainted scientists.

The moment the foul smell hit their noses, they woke up coughing and gagging like crazy. The stink quickly spread around the room, sending everyone except Chef, who had long become accustomed to nasty smells, into fits of coughing before Chef zipped the bag up.

The head scientist spoke up when the smell had dissipated somewhat. "What on earth is that stuff?" Chef put the bag away and responded in a casual tone.

"Just a bit of camp-food I saved from Season 1. Figured I could find a use for it someday, so I kept in this bag since I found it."

Chris interrupted and spoke up in a slightly annoyed voice. "Enough of talking about gross food and bad smells. We're stuck in a science lab with a bunch of teens in stasis and no weapons. Am I the only one that's noticed that."

Everyone except Chef looked at Chris in slight confusion. Chris face-palmed himself before he continued.

"It's a simple rule of post-disaster films and novels: every time a major disaster happens on a worldwide scale, be it a plague, a volcano, a huge meteor, or a nuclear war, rogues and warlords rise up in the aftermath the take advantage of the chaos by strong-arming and/or coercing people into following them and hoarding large amounts of fuel, weapons, water, and food. Now I know that this is not a movie or novel, but I do know for a fact that a number of scientists agree that bands of rogues and thieves would pop up almost immediately after a major catastrophe."

The scientists and Chris's guards all stared at him in mild surprise; who would've thought that Chris of all people would know something about surviving in an apocalyptic situation. The only one who wasn't surprised was Chef Hatchet, and that was because he knew Chris. Seeing everyone's stumped looks at his knowledge of post-disaster situations, Chris explained it to them in his usual arrogant tone.

"I've watched a lot of disaster and post-disaster films and such. They're two of my favorite genres actually." The head scientist spoke up when Chris had finished.

"As much as I hate to admit it, and I really, really, _really_ hate to admit this, Chris does have a valid point." Cue an expression of smug pleasure on Chris' face, several jaws dropping, and Chef face-palming before rounding on the head scientist.

"Man, are you trying to over-inflate Chris' already over-inflated ego?!" Chris' guards and about half the scientists murmured their agreements, prompting the head scientist to speak up yet again.

"As I've already said, I really hated having to say that aloud. But Chris did make a valid point that we need to address. Once people learn of the vast stockpile of technology and resources we have here, and the will eventually, they will flock to here like vultures to a fresh carcass. We need to prepare for that once the nuclear bombs have hit their targets...and we have mourned the loss of those who will die in the resulting explosion and radiation."

This sobered the already negative atmosphere immediately, with everyone in the room bowing their heads and closing their eyes; a few of them started crying. Chris broke the silence once again, but this time in a much more subdued voice then before.

"So, do we have any weapons at all other then a couple side-arms and a few fire axes?" At this, the head scientist smiled with a sort of smug pride.

"Oh you'll be surprised at what we have here. Follow me." Exchanging confused glances, Chris and Chef followed him to a nearby elevator, while the other scientists took stock of their power levels and maintained watch over the newly initiated WWIII.

Chris and Chef followed the scientist into the elevator, where he inputted his code and took the three of them down to one of the lower levels of the base. When the door opened again, the only thing Chris and Chef could do was stare in amazement. The room they're in was about 60 feet tall, and it was stacked from the floor to the ceiling with...everything. Books, CDs, DVDs, toys, electronics, vehicles, fuel and spare parts for the vehicles, weapons, pictures, jewelry, pieces of art, and a seemingly infinite number of other items were stacked in the room, but that was not the most amazing thing to be seen. In the center of the room is a fluid-filled glass tube, larger and thicker then the ones holding the teens up above. Within the tube is a glowing, mechanical-looking sphere, with waves of energy dancing around it like electricity. The sphere itself is generating a very low, nearly imperceptible hum, accompanied by a faint, blue-white glow just barely visible. in front of the tube is a console of sorts that is part of the overall device, with what appears to be a plug-in for powers cords next to a small screen displaying stats and reading of the device. Chef and Chris walked up to the tube holding the sphere, staring at it with curious expressions. Chris spoke first.

"Mind telling me and Chef what this is exactly?" The scientist's smile grew as he approached the tank and began explaining.

"What we are looking at is a device created several years back after roughly three decades of work between Canada, France, the U.S., and the U.K. This is the Ion Cortex; a liquid memory core developed in part from alien technology provided by Area 51. It's designed to store as much information and human knowledge as possible, so that we can record all of humanity's accomplishments and discoveries. Since its completion in early 2005, we've been storing as much intel as possible in this piece of human craftsmanship. In addition to that, the Ion Cortex is constantly downloading new information from various internet sources: Google, Bing, Yahoo, Wikipedia, and a number of news and science websites, all of them available for the public to see. In addition to that, there are roughly 50 to 60 nations worldwide who have allowed their private databanks, such as bank accounts and military databases, to be downloaded into the Cortex on the condition that no one from any other nation looks at them. All of that intel can be accessed rather easily just by plugging a laptop into this console here. As of right now, it's downloading all the available information about the nuclear war that's just started, and it will continue to do so for as long as the databanks are still active. The Cortex is also has it's own power supply and is protected by an electro-magnetic shield in case of an EMP. In an emergency where the power could go down or its state-of-the-art anti-viral technology is unable to prevent a viral intrusion, the Cortex is designed to instantly shut down and stop all activity while making sure the knowledge stored within is protected as well as it can be. Even if all the staff are forced to leave, the core can continue running and functioning without any maintenance."

At the end of the explanation, Chris and Chef were wide-eyed and slack-jawed. Chris managed to speak first. "Okay, that is seriously cool!" The scientist smiled arrogantly and responded to that with a smug "Thank you."

Chef interrupted in a serious tone. "As cool as I think it is, and I think its pretty cool, don't we have supplies to take stock of and weapons to go over?"

The scientist's smug smile faded when Chef mentioned that before he reluctantly responded with "Very well." With that, they just left the Ion Cortex and went on to take stock of everything in the room, leaving the Cortex to continue humming and glowing.

* * *

Once the nuclear bombs exploded, the state of the world went to hell in a hand-basket. It didn't where the bombs detonated, how high up they detonated in the sky, or how far from human civilization the bombs hit; everyone and everything was affected in some way by the nuclear explosions. A large number of major cities were destroyed, and society as it was known instantly collapsed.

Hundreds if not thousands of nukes were launched and detonations happened on a worldwide scale, disrupting and destroying trade and diplomacy and leaving militaries in tatters. Rogues, bandits, pirates, and warlords popped up almost instantly, just as Chris predicted, and any remaining urban areas quickly became battlegrounds between them, the remnants of the militaries, and desperate civilians. Only a few lucky ones managed to make it away from the cities, and they often fell prey to the rogues that quickly established dominance. The remaining members of the state governments, at least the governments that survived, went into hiding and tried to remain some modicum of control as governments-in-exile. Alas, they rarely had any success, and all would eventually fall.

Much of the world quickly turned into radioactive wastelands due to the fallout of the bombs, and it was only worsened by the fact that a large number of nuclear reactors, many of which contained materials way more dangerous and unstable then what was put in the nukes, went critical soon after the nukes went off and unleashed their payloads on the environment and any nearby inhabited areas.

All the radiation had an instant affect on both humans and wildlife. Cancers, radiation sickness, and other radiation-related diseases quickly reached epidemic proportions, and most if not all plant and animal life within range of nuclear explosions and critical reactors were killed by radiation poisoning soon afterwards, at least if they managed to survive the extreme heat and force of the explosions and any resulting fires. In addition, the massive amount of radiation in the atmosphere greatly disrupted the Earth's ozone layer and it's natural electro-magnetic field, bombarding the earth with dangerous amounts of solar radiation.

Europe, Asia, and North America were the hardest hit locations, and a number of places in Australia and South America were badly hit as well. Africa managed to escape with no nuclear explosions, but it too was greatly affected. Europe effectively became a wasteland, with no area of it remaining unaffected. Many of the survivors of North America tried heading south via foot, boat, and whatever remaining land and air vehicles were still in working condition; most did not make it to their intended destinations.

The situation in the Americas was worsened even further by a 200-foot-tall mega-tsunami that flattened anything and everything in it's path from Newfoundland to Northern Brazil in the west and across northwest Africa and Southern Europe in the east. This tsunami was a result of the collapse of the Cumbre Vieja volcanic ridge in the Canary Islands, which was in turn caused by a pair of nuclear bombs launched by China; they realized that the resulting mega-tsunami would compound the already massive damage caused by the nukes.

A nuke from North Korea also hit the Yellowstone Supervolcano in Wyoming, causing it to erupt and spew massive amounts of rock, dust, and volcanic dust in the sky, darkening it and worsening the nuclear winter. The eruption also wound up creating a massive earthquake measuring 8.1 on the Richter Scale, causing building and bridge collapses across a wide area and compounding local fires and reactor meltdowns.

Africa was hit with large amounts of radiation from Europe and the Middle East due to the prevailing winds, and the sudden loss of aid and contact with much of the world sent the continent spiraling into a famine-riddled, panic-filled, anachronistic mish-mash of ethnic groups, dictators, and rebels battling for power while dealing with an increasing tide of refugees from Europe and the Middle East and rapidly rising levels of cancer and malnutrition. A similar situation happened in Australia and New Zealand, both of which suffered from civil unrest and massive immigration and refugee problems, and Australia was hit by a half-dozen nukes. The Pacific Islands also fared poorly due to similar reasons.

While chaos and anarchy reigned, the Plant and Animal Kingdoms underwent major transformations. Those that did not die of radiations sickness were changed on a genetic level, and unlike humans, these changes were passed on to their offspring. The result was not just a new mass extinction, but a revolution in evolution. The surviving organisms went through massive evolutionary changes in very short periods of time; a few decades is pretty darn short by many evolutionary standards. Many new forms of flora and fauna started appearing all over the world; some were redundant, some survived, and some thrived.

The worlds climate also underwent major upheavals. All the smoke, dust and ash created by the explosions and the resulting fires, plus those that resulted from the reactor meltdowns and all the oil and gas explosions, darkened the atmosphere and prevented much of the sun's heat and light from reaching the earth, while doing nothing to stop ultraviolet radiation from endlessly pummeling the earth. Worldwide temperatures plummeted, and winters became both longer and colder, nearly plummeting the earth into a new ice age. The result was something akin to the Little Ice Age of the Late Middle Ages, with mountain glaciers expanding rapidly and many rivers and lakes freezing solid for half the year. Sudden rain-storms developed in the tropics and contributed to massive floods that destroyed entire towns, and existing famines were worsened even further by the changing climate, while new ones began in the few areas that could still produce food.

The seas and oceans suffered equally as bad, if not worse; warm-water currents suddenly turned ice-cold, while cold-water currents heated up considerably. Fragile and already imperiled habitats were destroyed, and thousands of marine species became extinct. The sudden addition of so many new pollutants and radioactive materials in the oceans and other bodies of water caused massive die-offs of marine and freshwater life. Algal blooms appeared across the planet's seas and oceans, sucking oxygen out of the water and killing off even more life. Some parts of the ocean became so full of carbon, ash, and other pollutants that they became acidified, making it impossible for all but the very hardiest life forms to survive.

Humanity was unable to withstand this endless barrage of problems and disasters, and it was sent on a path towards extinction. Rogues, bandits and warlords eventually burned out and disappeared through infighting, famine, radiation, natural disasters, mutated animals, and victims who managed to fight back. Any remaining political entities and governments-in-exile would fall due to similar problems. Overnight, Earth went from a thriving hustle-and-bustle planet of life and humanity to a radiation-riddled world in the throws of disaster upon disaster. 7 billion people quickly became 3 billion in the aftermath of the bombs, and that number continued to steadily fall as floods, famines, harsh winters, mutated wildlife, and wars between gangs, bandits, and other survivors accompanied the radiation and climate change.

Within a century, things had just started to stabilize, including the human population at around 500 million people, but then something else came about as well. All the burning coal, oil, and gas released large amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, helping to offset the cooling brought about by the nuclear winter. When the winter began to die down however, the CO2 began rapidly heating up the world, melting ice and raising temperatures to higher then they had been in Earth's history since the Eocene epoch. The sudden temperature shift in such a short period of time caused dramatic climatic upheavals, switching around ocean currents and contributing to an increasing number of massive thunderstorms, storm surges, and typhoons that raged across the tropics and eventually into more northerly regions. The rising temperatures also caused torrential downpours and massive floods in some areas and sparked massive fires and severe droughts in others.

The melting ice in the high mountains and the poles rushed into the oceans, and sea levels began rising at a rapid pace as a result. As the CO2 continued to melt the ice and the blue oceans absorbed more sunlight, which exasperated the global warming, coastal areas began flooding with saltwater, and any remaining humans in those areas had to either move to higher ground or drown in the rising seas. Humanity's numbers began falling even further, and they were forced to live in inland regions that were home to massive deserts, mutated animals and other, more hostile humans. The equatorial regions eventually became so hot that humans could no longer inhabit them, and the average global temperature rose by 4 degrees across the world; it may not seem like much, bust history has shown that small numbers can lead to big changes. Much of Africa, South America, and Australia turned into massive deserts, the coastal regions of Europe became home to mangrove swamps and stands of palm trees, new coral reefs developed as far north as Britain, and subtropical forests sprung up where boreal forests once grew in abundance. Oceanic islands and numerous coastal areas, including Bangladesh, Florida, the Eastern Seaboard, Russia, Eastern Europe, and the Gulf Coast were flooded by the sea, while a number of mountains and other land areas became islands of varying sizes. Humans were unable to adapt to yet another sudden change so soon in Earth's history, resulting in the extinction of humanity all across the world, not that it had very far to go.

The base where the teens were kept at remained managed to whether it all, because it did not experience too much of it. True to the scientist's predictions, as soon as people found out about the food, weapons, and shelter that could be obtained at the base, they began flocking towards it in droves. The scientists took in as many as they could, but eventually they closed the base doors to all but the healthiest of refugees. This prompted a number of attempts by bandits and warlords to take the base, but everyone in it just hunkered down and waited out the sieges. None of the weapons or explosives used by the rogues were able to penetrate the shielding of the base, and they eventually gave up on trying to take it. The base became the home of a large number of refugees and the descendants of both earlier refugees and the scientists who once worked there; the lower levels were blocked off, and no one was allowed to go down there.

60 years after the first nuclear bomb was launched, a massive landslide completely covered the base after a period of heavy rainfall. Most of the people within the building managed to make it out in time, but a few were trapped within, and decided to kill themselves via overdose to avoid a prolonged suffering. Anything and everything stored within the lower levels, even sensitive objects such as electronics and certain foodstuffs, remained perfectly preserved in the dark, non-humid, none-warm room they were in. Among those were the pods containing the Total Drama teens, which remained in stasis thanks to the nano-gas and the backup power, and the Ion Cortex, which turned off once the power left. Fortunately, the Cortex suffered no damage whatsoever, and it powered down as soon as the power left the base. All the knowledge stored within remained completely safe, as did the teens inside the pods a few levels above.

Humanity may have become extinct after two centuries, but the Earth and it's life lived on. The surviving animals continually underwent rapid mutations, allowing many of the new species to survive the turbulent climate change. Eventually, world sea levels rose to 100 meters above what the were in 2013. The surviving animals, both mutated and non-mutated, diversified rapidly to take advantage of the newly opened ecological niches, giving the Earth a whole new variety of species. The ruined cities and buildings of humanity were swallowed up by the plants and animals of the future. Radiation and pollution levels began to drop as they were filtered out by the environment, and the climate and ocean currents finally began to stabilize into predictable forms. The deserts began to disappear in some areas and shrank considerably in others, gradually being replaced by grasslands, forests, swamps, and a plethora of other habitats. The rapid evolution that had taken place in Earth's flora and fauna began to slow down, the various plants and animals settling into the available niches wherever they could be found.

The base remained covered in earth for many centuries, safe from major corrosion by the lack of water it's earthy covering, the highly resistant materials that comprise it, and the total lack of air. Eventually, erosion wore down the soil that covered the base and re-exposed it to the air and sun. The damage-resistant solar panels began reabsorbing solar energy, eventually repowering the base. Within the room containing the teens, still in their stasis-pods, power slowly began returning to the stasis-pods, causing the base's computer systems, still working after so many centuries, to begin reawakening the teens.

And so, as the pods began opening, for the first time in 1,500 years, they opened their eyes, and woke up.

* * *

**I hope everyone enjoyed the third chapter of Mutation Situation. Please leave a review after you read, I didn't get all that many after the first two chapters. It would also be nice if you spread the word about this fanfic to other fanfic readers you may know. However, please do not flame, at all, unless you really need to vent or otherwise express some anger. If you want to flame just for the heck of it, then get away from this fanfic before you can do that and stay away from this and similar fanfics in the future.**

**Just so you all know, I've researched what would happen if a worldwide nuclear war broke out, and all that you've read about what happened to Earth is stuff that could very well happen in the future. I'm sorry if the explanation seemed too long, I just wanted to showcase what happened to the planet after the teens were put in stasis; it basically turned into a total madhouse of radiation and messed-up climates and animals. The teens will have to deal with both issues as they awaken and learn about the world.**

**Now that we've seen what exactly happened to Earth and to humanity, and how the base managed to remain intact, the next chapter will have the teens waking up from stasis and discovering their mutations, which aren't as bad or as major as they thought they would be. Also, they will learn what happened to the world and how they managed to survive; more details next chapter.**

**As I said at the end of the last chapter, none of the teens will have aged at all, nor will they feel any hungrier, thirstier, or sleepier then they did when they first entered the pods. Also, they will feel no major need to go number 1 or number 2 all that badly...but Owen will have a thousand years of repressed farts to unleash (you just can't have Owen around without him farting)****.**

**Until next time, be sure to remember the me, the Prime Writer, and my partner in this fanfic, THE NIGHT'S RAGE, will make sure that you will enjoy Mutation Situation. Sorry if that sounded like Chris in any way.**


	4. Awake and Alive

**Hello one and all, and welcome to Chapter 4 of the fanfic known as Mutation Situation. The last chapter was a filler meant to explain what happened to the base and the world at large in the aftermath of a nuclear war. It also introduced a couple concepts and items that will be important in a number of future chapters. The chapter ended just as the teens started waking up...after being asleep for a full 1,500 years; you can expect a lot of confusion and denial in this chapter, as well as some noticeable anger. My friend and partner in this fanfic, THE NIGHT'S RAGE, called that aftermath of the nuclear explosions, "the Age of Mutants", which I think is a fitting moniker, due to all the mutated plant and animal species that now exist.**

**just so all you readers know, every person featured in the fanfic from here on out will be paired with someone from the opposite gender; that's a total of 19 couples to be featured in this fanfic. Some will be established pairings, some will be broke-up couples getting back together, and the rest will be all new couples. Those new couples will consist of individuals who can help each other overcome each others faults. for example, Jo can toughen up Brick while Brick teaches her honor and sportsmanship, and Dawn can help Scott become nice while Scott helps her realize that you can't always be nice to everyone and everything. If you have any requests of suggestions you'd like to offer, please list them in your reviews or a PM for me and THE NIGHT'S RAGE to consider.**

**Now for the disclaimer; the Total Drama series is the joint property of Fresh TV Inc. and Teletoon, the same creators of 6teen and Stoked. Also, the fanfic is rated T for some minor-to-moderate swearing, descriptions of blood and major injuries, and all reasons for why the Total Drama seasons are/were rated TV-PG and TV-PG-D.**

**Now with all this out of the way, let's continue the story.**

* * *

Deep within the confines of a former Canadian military installation, someone has just started waking up; actually, about three-dozen someones are waking. After the pods had all opened, the bleary-eyed teens reluctantly woke up from their deep sleep and started stretching and clearing their eyes; no matter how deep the sleep, a person's bound to feel stiff after over a millennium of laying in the same position. It probably didn't help that the mutation process was rather painful, though thankfully they weren't awake when they experienced it.

Lightning was the first to speak when he finished stretching, after a lengthy yawn. "Man, Lightning hasn't felt this rested in sha-forever."

Jo, surprisingly, agreed with him. "You and me both Jockstrap."

Brick added to that as he finished stretching his arms, letting out a satisfied grunt while doing so. "Definitely better then the cabins back at the camp."

Courtney finished her stretching and spoke to everyone in the room. "Now that we've established that we've had a good sleep, can someone turn on the lights?"

Just as she said that, someone found the light-switch and bathed the room in light, forcing everyone to shield their eyes until they could adjust properly. Leshawna spoke first upon seeing her reflection in the glass of the pods. "Uh, is it just me, or are my eyes yellow, my skin orange, and my hair green?"

Sure enough, Leshawna's eyes turned yellow while her pupils turned red, her skin turned a bright orange color, and her hair had turned a murky green, like the algae one would find floating in a swampy pond. In fact, everyone's eyes, skin, and hair had changed to the same colors. a few quick looks at their hands showed that their nails had turned into razor-sharp claws.

Sierra, who now has her hair back at full length after losing it during TDWT, answered the question that had settled into everyone's heads. "The same thing happened to Dakota's hair and eyes when she started mutating; the only differences so far are that we haven't changed size, grown a tail, or lost any of our brain capacity, at least so far."

Izzy spoke up in her standard crazy overexcitement. "This reminds me of this one time when I ended up taking a dive in green hair-dye at a hair-dye factory; my whole body turned swampy green and clothes became so dark green they were almost black. I started calling myself Greeny Girl at school for like 5 months until all the dye finally washed out."

Miko spoke in a despondent voice when Izzy was through being...Izzy. "Ugh, this is so not cool; I look like an Oompah Loompah in serious need of a manicure."

Alejandro spoke up in a similar tone of voice. "I agree with the new girl, the orange skin does not become me." Everyone paused what they were doing and looked at Alejandro with perplexed and slightly amazed expressions.

This prompted Al to ask a confused "Why are you all looking at me like that?" Justin just said "You might want to look at your reflection."

Raising an eyebrow at this, Al looked at his reflection in the glass part of the pod and saw that, where there used to be metal plating covering his head, there was now just bare skin. His clothes, which were thankfully intact, remained unchanged, and his hair had grown back to it's original length.

Just a few days prior Al being taken for the experiment, the wheeled-robot Al was put in after his lava accident was replaced with a high-tech robotic suit that covered his body and left only his hands, feet, and face exposed, though it did allow him to walk and move normally. Unfortunately, the doctors had told him that it would be several months, perhaps even over a year, before he could leave the suit and move normally without any assistance. Now however, it seemed as though he would not need to wait that long, as his armor had apparently disappeared completely.

However, as he moved his arm to touch the skin on his head, he felt something on his arm and saw a rusty-looking, worn-out piece of the suit he wore; a quick look over his body showed that it had several pieces of the metal suit, and there were at least twice as many pieces in the pod he was in. His elation quickly gave way to curiosity upon seeing what was left of the very expensive suit. "Does anyone here have any idea as to what happened to my suit?"

Cameron spoke up first. "My current theory is that all the moisture from the mutation process corroded your suit at an accelerated rate. But that would still require at least a few weeks, if not more, of being in suspended animation for the corrosion to take affect so fast."

Owen spoke up as well, while clutching his stomach. "We must have been in these pods at least that long, because I'm starving."

Noah looked at his large friend and deadpanned "You're always hungry." Owen replied to that with "I know that, but now I'm even hungrier then normal."

Noah and several others rolled their eyes in response. Gwen decided to take the chance to speak up before Courtney could start nagging at everyone...again.

"Not to sound pessimistic here, but shouldn't there have been some scientists or military personal in here for when we woke up?" Brick spoke up once again.

"That would normally be an affirmative mam; I'm not very sure myself why no one was here to greet us."

At that moment, Courtney once again tried to take command, while being oblivious to the glares and eye-rolls she was receiving. "I believe that I can help you all answer your questions. After all, I was a..."

Whatever she was going to say next was cut off when everyone yelled out "Stuff it!", surprising her and causing her to ask a confused "What was that for?" Cody was the one who answered her.

"Since you clearly but unsurprisingly haven't figured it out for yourself, everyone in this room, even the people who've never met you in real life up until now, is just plain sick and tired of you nagging at everyone, taking charge when no one needs it, and bragging about your C.I.T. experience, which frankly isn't really all that much to brag about."

Most of the teens in the room voiced their agreements with Cody's statements, causing Courtney to scowl and fold her arms, but also silencing her. Mike spoke up from near the light switches.

"Hey guys, I think I found the door to the rest of the base." He pressed a button and the doors slid open to reveal an elevator big enough to hold at least 20 people. Mike spoke up again when he saw the elevator.

"Apparently it's an elevator." Jo rolled her eyes and quipped "Way to point out the obvious Multi-Man.", causing Zoey and Cameron to send her minor glares. Jason spoke up that moment at well.

"Alright people, enough bickering. None of that will help us figure out what's going on. I haven't been in the life-or-death situations that you guys go through on the show, but from seeing what you guys went through, something probably went wrong on the upper floors. I say some of us go to the top level to see what's going on, and then come back down here to report what they find."

Courtney spoke up again, this time directed towards Jason. "And what exactly makes you think you're qualified to be a leader?"

Several of the teens, especially Gwen and Duncan, looked ready to start choking her, but Jason just kept his cool and responded to her civilly and in an even tone of voice.

"Not that we need a leader right now, but I was an assistant manager at a large grocery store and I've had to watch my three little brothers a lot while our mom was at work. I think that all counts for something, even though we don't really need a leader right now, as I've said before. But just in case that doesn't satisfy you, lets have a little vote between you and me as to who these people want to be led by."

Courtney's face, which had been falling from it's smug look as Jason talked, popped up again when Jason had mentioned 'vote'. Jason spoke again, this time to everyone, when he was finished talking to Courtney.

"Anyone here who would like Courtney to lead you in the event we need a leader, raise your hand." Courtney smiled confidently at first, but it fell into a confused frown when no one raised their hand, not even Bridgette or Alejandro.

"Seriously. No one in here is going to raise their hand for me; me of all people?" Noah quipped "This surprises you why, exactly?"

Courtney turned to her only friends on the show, and her only friends period, with an imploring look. "Bridgette? Alejandro?"

Bridgette looked at her friend apologetically and said "Sorry Courtney, but you tend to lose your temper easily, you always try to do things by yourself, and a lot of your decisions aren't all that good. Plus your 'my way or the highway' attitude tends to really get on everyone's nerves."

Al spoke next, but his face and words were a lot less kind. "I agree with everyone else when they say that you are not fit for leadership, at all. I wouldn't even try if I were you."

Instead of responding in a superior-sounding voice like usual, Courtney just stared down at the floor despondently. Jason saw this look and spoke up again.

"Okay, we can all agree that we don't want Courtney to lead us, but that doesn't mean we can just beat on her dignity like that. If you need to insult her, keep the insults to your heads and don't speak them aloud." With that taken care of, Jason steered the group back to the main point of discussion.

"Now since it's obvious that no one really want's Courtney to lead, I volunteer to take command in the event that we do need a leader. Are we in agreement?" Everyone except Courtney nodded or said that it was good with them.

"Okay then, down to the first order of business: who here's going to go up to the main room to find out what happened?" No one raised their hands until Brick snapped to salute.

"I volunteer myself to find out, sir." Jason jokingly said "At ease soldier." in response, before he looked to the rest of the mutated teenage TV stars. Jason pointed his fingers to a number of teens who he was fairly certain would handle whatever they found.

"Gwen, Duncan, Jo, Eva, B, Harold, Courtney, Alejandro, Leshawna, Noah, Izzy, and Heather can all handle whatever they find up above. I'll be going with them, now who else wants to go?" Miko's hand instantly shot up and she started jumping in place excitably.

"Can I come too? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please? Please?" Jason spoke up before she could continue. "Yes, you can go if you really want to." Miko squealed excitably in response. Cameron was the next to raise his hand.

"I think I can help with any technical problems we might find." Jason nodded and turned to Zoey and Mike, who raised their hands soon after Cameron raised his, and let Zoey speak for both of them.

"If Cameron's going, we're going with him, no questions asked." Jason nodded to them as well before turning to Lindsay.

"Please let me come John; I can be like, so helpful to you." Jason briefly considered this before he responded.

"Sorry Lindsay, but we're going to need someone...stronger, no offense." Jason really meant smarter, but he didn't want to hurt Lindsay's feelings. Lindsay pouted slightly at not being able to go while Tyler put his hand on her shoulder to comfort her.

Jason then turned to Scott and thought about bringing him, but decided against it. He then turned to Dawn to ask her, but she spoke before he did. "Of course I'll accompany you and the others on the off-chance of their being any guard animals that I can calm."

Jason looked surprised before he smiled and quipped "You really do have psychic powers." Dawn smiled while Noah scoffed in the background.

Dawn gestured to Noah and asked "Can Noah come with us as well? His intelligence could prove useful." Noah looked surprised that Dawn would ask him to come, but he still smiled.

Jason smiled at them both and responded with "I don't see why not." Jason then spoke to everyone in the room.

"Okay, everyone who's going, stay close in case anything comes up. Everyone else, stay here until we come back down and tell you it's safe up there. Everyone clear?" All the teens nodded their heads, even Courtney, and those going up followed Jason onto the elevator. When the elevator came to a stop on the main floor of the base, the lights were still off in that part and very little could be seen. Jason spoke first.

"This might sound like a dumb question, but does anyone know where the light-switch is?" Everyone responded with various forms of "No." Jason then started doing what first came to mind and felt along the wall for a switch.

Cameron started walking towards the middle of the room and tripped over something. Mike and Zoey came to his aid, Mike speaking first. "You okay pal?" Cameron coughed a little and responded with "I'm fine."

He then reached for the object he tripped over and held it in his hand. "I wonder what this is?" His answer came when Jason found the light-switch and turned the lights on. When Cameron's eyes cleared, he saw that he was holding a human skull.

He stared at it for a second before he screamed and dropped the skull before wiping his hands on his shirt. Zoey and Mike backed away from the dropped skull until Zoey stepped on something that made a crunching sound. She and Mike looked down and saw that she had stepped on a Human Tibia, having become brittle with age. She stepped away from it and started looking around the room, which everyone else present started doing as well. Their were parts of at least 15 human skeletons scattered across the room, and everyone was scared silent as they saw the large number of bones.

Duncan spoke up when the shock had worn off. "I think it's pretty obvious that something really bad happened here." Harold kneeled down and started looking at a few nearby bones, looking back to everyone after a couple minutes of studying them.

"Based on the looks and fragility of the bones and the relative lack of visible weathering, I'd say that these bones have remained completely undisturbed for at least a thousand years." Everyone looked at Harold in mild shock, with Courtney speaking first.

"But shouldn't that be impossible? I mean no military base, no matter how well-built and well-maintained it is, could last for a thousand years completely undamaged without human maintenance and repairs, not to mention all the renovations that would need to be made. I'd be surprised if the walls were still standing, much less the roof still intact and the power still working."

Harold stood up and faced Courtney. "Nothing is truly impossible. That's actually a quote I got from the movie Kung Fu Panda, specifically the character Master Oogway."

Courtney looked like she was going to berate Harold again, so Jason interrupted before she could start. "As interesting as that is Harold, we have more important things to worry about then movie quotes." Harold nodded understandingly while Cameron started speaking to the rest of the assembled teenagers.

"Actually, Harold's quote does make some sense. The city of Pompeii was buried in volcanic ash and remained perfectly preserved for roughly 1,600 years after it was buried. So theoretically, if the base somehow got buried in dirt or something similar, there is a chance that the base could've remained completely preserved for a similar amount of time."

Gwen raised her hand and spoke up in a concerned voice. "If we're buried underground, doesn't that mean we could be in danger of suffocation or starvation?"

Courtney narrowed her eyes and glared pointedly at Gwen. "No one here asked for your opinion Gothy."

Duncan heard this and spoke up in his girlfriend's defense. "And no one here asked for your nagging, so just stuff it would ya." Courtney was about to retort when Jason whistled and got everyone's attention.

"Everyone just cool it. This is a much more serious situation then we thought it would be, and we don't need anyone's petty bickering to annoy anyone else, so just keep your thoughts to yourself until we can get this settled."

Gwen and Duncan glared at Courtney, who glared back, but none of them said anything else. Jason spoke to everyone else when he was certain they wouldn't say anything to each other.

"Anyone have any idea where the door outside might be?" Brick's hand shot up almost immediately. "I've been in military bases before, so I think I know where the door should be in relation to the main room."

Heather scoffed and mockingly quipped "Let me guess, you run past them in the dark while wetting your undies?" Heather and Jo started laughing while Brick and several others started glaring at her. Her laughing was interrupted by a stern Jason.

"What part of 'no petty bickering' did you not hear Heather-le-Hag?" Heather scowled at the mention of that nickname while several others started snickering, but she didn't say anything else.

Jason then gestured to Brick and said "Lead the way soldier.", prompting Brick to start jogging down the second hall on the right. everyone else quickly started following. A couple minutes later, they stopped at a large metal door with sunlight streaming in from a pair of small windows on the doors. The sudden amount of sunlight brought smiles to everyone's faces; at least they wouldn't suffocate to death, and they could potentially leave the base.

Courtney looked at the lock and saw that it had corroded due to the length of time for which it was unused. She looked to Eva and asked "Hey Eva, you think you could break this lock right here?" Eva shrugged and walked over to the corroded lock. Instead of grabbing it and pulling it, she decided to try slashing it with her new claws, which cut through the lock like it was nothing. Eva and Courtney then pushed the doors open, and everyone gawked at what they saw.

Instead of military vehicles, soldiers, and human buildings, they saw that they were in the clearing of a subtropical forest, teeming with life. The base itself was partly buried in the side of a large hill, with the top part of the base and some of the solar panels just sticking out of the soil. Birds and other animals chirped and scampered in the trees and on the ground, some of which looked kinda like what existed on Wawanakwa Island after Chris covered the island in radioactive waste. The temperature seemed significantly warmer then what it was when the teens were first put in stasis; most likely somewhere in the mid-80s.

Everyone just stared in awe and confusion at what they were seeing. The location as a whole seemed peaceful and serene...until they all heard a loud, bone-chilling, screeching roar coming from not too far away. Instantly, the birds in the trees took flight and started heading away from the source of the roar, which judging by the steady vibrations that were getting stronger each time they were felt, was approaching even nearer.

About a minute later, the source of the roar revealed itself to be a massive spider about 10 feet tall, with a pale exoskeleton, 5 red eyes arranged in a pentagonal pattern, a pair of massive fangs in its mouth, and 8 legs as thick as a tree trunk with a pair of massive claws tipping the ends of each leg. The Mega-Spider let out another screeching roar when it entered the clearing, prompting the assembled teens to run back into the base, screaming at the tops of their lungs doing so, and shutting the doors behind them.

Pale-faced and drenched in sweat, they just sat there for a minute, gasping for air while trying to slow their heart rates, before Jason spoke up in a fearful voice. "Okay, I think it's pretty obvious that something very wrong is going on here."

Miko sent Jason a slight glare and deadpanned "Ya think?!" Harold was the next to speak up.

"I think I have a theory as to why there were no humans outside the base, why the base was buried, and why all those skeletons were in the main room."

Jo responded to that with "At this point, I'd believe anything." Harold took that as his cue to continue.

"You do remember that I said that the bones back in the main room have likely been there for at least a thousand years, correct?" Everyone nodded, prompting Harold to continue.

"If they were there for that long, then we must have been in the stasis pods for roughly the same period of time. It's also pretty obvious that something pretty major must have happened while we were asleep that caused massive climatic changes and radical mutations in various animal and plant species."

Courtney, her already short patience strained even more so by recent events, folded her arms and snapped at Harold in an impatient voice. "Are you going anywhere for this?!" Jason put an arm up to silence her an motioned for Harold to continue.

"As I was saying, if changes as big as what I think they were happened while we were in stasis, then it's quite possible that most of humanity did not survive those changes, while we were only able to do so by virtue of being in those stasis pods."

Everyone's eyes widened like headlights as the gravity of what Harold was saying began hitting them. Jason was seemingly the only one still able to speak. "So what your saying is, we might be the last humans on Earth."

* * *

**Here's to the 4th chapter of Mutation Situation, the most important chapter thus far. As always, please leave a review when you finish reading this story, but I can understand if you are unable to leave one. Any and all flaming shall be ignored and I implore you to not flame at all. If you REALLY feel like you must flame, then please explain to me why you flamed myself or my story. If you just needed to vent something and used me and/or my story as an outlet, I will be understanding. If you just don't like my story, then stay away from my fanfics and keep all thoughts to yourself.**

**Next chapter, as a number of the teens begin panicking, someone within their ranks manages to take command and calm everyone down somewhat. They take stock of everything in the base and realize that some of the last remnants of humanity are in their control, including what may contain almost all the information about Earth and the universe as a whole that humanity has gathered during his time on earth.**

**The next chapter may not be for a while unfortunately, but don't worry; I will continue this and all my stories. Until then, I am the Prime Writer, and this is...The...Mutation...Situation. Again that sounded like Chris; I gotta stop doing that.**


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